Memories in the music industry are short. Yet the impact of Susan Boyle, the grey-haired, middle-aged ingenue who captured the nation’s heart on Britain’s Got Talent is best remembered by an event to which she was not even invited.
At the Grammy Awards in 2010, stars such as Taylor Swift, Lady Gaga and Beyoncé sat in their plush seats in the Staples Centre, the vast music auditorium in Los Angeles, and listened as Stephen Colbert, the comedian and host, schooled them on the year’s true winner.
“You may be the coolest people in the world, but your industry was saved by a 48-year-old Scottish cat lady in sensible shoes.”
Yes, what Tom Cruise was in Top Gun: Maverick to the beleaguered post-Covid cinema industry, Boyle was with I Dreamed A Dream to the beleaguered record industry in 2010, a heroine who sold more than ten million copies and persuaded people who didn’t buy albums, to buy albums.
Yet, today Boyle, now 63, remains as down to earth and driven as she was minutes before stepping on the stage of the Clyde Auditorium for the filmed audition that launched her career. She is more than two years into a recovery from a stroke that, for a time, rendered her unable to sing and partially paralysed her left hand side, and returned to the stage last autumn for a series of concerts as a guest performer. Boyle became an overnight sensation after her performance on Britain’s Got Talent in 2009 KEN MCKAY/SHUTTERSTOCK Looking back on the night performing in front of Simon Cowell, Amanda Holden and Piers Morgan, the Britain’s Got Talent judges, she said: “I didn’t really have any expectations. I didn’t know what to expect. When you apply for something, you don’t know what you are going to face. I had gone for auditions before, but I decided to go again as my mother wanted me to do it.” Raised in Blackburn, West Lothian, one of nine children to Patrick Boyle, a miner and veteran of the Second World War, and Bridget, a shorthand typist, Susan had lived at home, looking after her mother, who died at the age of 91 in 2007, before her daughter found success. Both mother and daughter always had faith in her talent as Susan self-funded a demo at a professional studio and had previously auditioned in 1995 for Michael Barrymore’s My Kind of People on ITV. So, when her big opportunity came, she was prepared. “I was kind of excited as I was getting a chance to do it and I had spoken to Ant and Dec beforehand and so I was bit hyped up for it. “I was so excited and it was ten o’clock at night before I got home. I was just on a high. I Dreamed a Dream [her chosen song from the musical Les Misérables] was always the one that I had wanted to do because it was kind of a reflection on what I wanted to achieve.” Susan Boyle met Pope Francis before her performance in the annual Christmas concert at the Vatican in 2019 PA It is easy to forget, such was her stratospheric success, that Boyle lost in the final to Diversity, the dance troupe. She found the experience so stressful that immediately after the final she was admitted to the Priory, the private psychiatric clinic. So concerned were the production team that Cowell waived Boyle’s contractual appearance on the Britain’s Got Talent’s UK tour. Yet despite this she made a swift recovery and appeared at the majority of the dates. In light of celebrities such as Liam Payne struggling with fame, did Boyle think she was well looked after? “I was well looked after, I was well trained, they showed me what to do. So I think I was well looked after.” Her debut album, I Dreamed A Dream, allowed her to buy whatever she wanted and she wanted to buy her mother’s house, a four-bedroom former council house in Blackburn, where she still lives today. Looking back on how her life has changed she said: “Well, I can afford a lot more than I could beforehand. “Before I had nothing. I didn’t even have enough to pay all the utilities of the house. I couldn’t pay my bills. It happens to people. So I decided to buy my mother’s house. I had a lot of memories with my mother and there was a lot of memories in the council houses, so I just thought I would buy it and I still stay there today. It just gives you peace of mind … If I lose things then I will always have my home.” After the stroke in 2022 Boyle feared that she would never sing again, but embarked on a strenuous period of therapy and recovery, which has been captured in for a television documentary scheduled to be broadcast this spring. “I had to do a lot of exercise as my voice wasn’t 100 per cent … but I will keep working and training until it’s back to 100 per cent … I’ve still got about 25 per cent to recover.” She said her guest appearance at concerts over the autumn was “like therapy because you can feel that everyone is behind you and that gives me the extra confidence. I can feel everyone willing me on. I’d like to tour again as that would be a sign that I’m making a comeback.” Boyle met Sir Elton John backstage at his concert in Glasgow for the Farewell Yellow Brick Road tour in 2023 She still enjoys her fame, she likes to be recognised and loves to travel — with California and Florida among her favourite American states — and would not say no to a tour of the Seychelles. She can, at times, still find the industry stressful. She was diagnosed as having Asperger’s syndrome, a form of autism, about which she has spoken in the past. “Well, it can be stressful. Sometimes you just feel overloaded with stress, so you need to take the pace down. In the past I only ever gave one word answers, so now they can’t shut me up. I’ve got more confident talking and it’s come with age.” Today, she likes to relax by, surprisingly, taking driving lessons. “I have had two lessons and I don’t know what I’ve been like but I’m surprised there hasn’t been any car crashes yet.” She’s bought a white Volkswagen for when she passes her test. Then there are her piano lessons. “I’m also learning the piano as well … I’ve been learning to play badly. I’ve been having lessons once a week. My teacher is very nice. I go to her house for the lessons. Perhaps I’d like to be able to play and sing on stage but well that’s going to take a wee while.” The next Elton John? If history has shown, don’t bet against Susan Boyle. Just ask Beyoncé and Lady Gaga.Advertisement
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